Don’t let your family history wind up in a dumpster or shredder. Glean critical ancestral information from these six genealogy sources—before they disappear.

“Hi, Lisa. I was getting rid of some things and I was going to shred the enclosed, but I thought maybe you’d be interested in them. If you don’t want them, shred them.”

I received this note from my cousin Mike in 2000. Enclosed with it was my grandmother’s death certificate, the deed to my grandparents’ house and a copy of a visa application dated 1928 for one of my paternal ancestors. I immediately called to thank him. He didn’t realize that he just saved me hours of valuable research time by sharing with me these precious items he had stashed away at home.